The Greening of Gavin

Brass Monkey Challenge – July Update

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Brass Monkey ChallengeIt has nearly been a month since we first started the Brass Monkey Challenge, so it is time for an update.

Temperatures

The minimum temperatures have dropped down to 2°C (35.6F) for the last few nights/mornings, and max temps are hovering around 12°C (53.6F).

That is on par with the long-term average, even though the rest of July has been about 2 degrees above this average.

Still no frosts, thankfully, and our challenge is still going strong.

Passive Heating

The days have been somewhat sunny, so we keep the window coverings open during the day to let the sunlight heat the lounge, my office, and our bedroom.  With the doors and windows closed, these rooms have been heating up to around 18°C during the day.

There is certainly no need for heating in these rooms.  My office is staying at that temp for most of the night because my computer keeps the room constant.  Who needs a heater when the PC pumps out so much heat!

The rest of the house is around 16°C (60.8F) during the day, and down to 12°C (53.6F) at night.  The are tolerable temperatures once you get used to it and dress for the conditions.

Rugging Up

Layers are the norm here at the moment.  Ben, Kim and I are now quite used to having about three layers on top to stay warm.

No, we are not dressing like Eskimos, more like dressing for a spring day.  I have been wearing a t-shirt, flannel shirt, and track-suit jacket on top, and thick woolen or hemp socks, and track-pants on the bottom.  No hats or scarves or gloves required.  I was wearing fingerless gloves at the start of the challenge, but discontinued use once I adapted.

Guests Do It Tough

With that said, our recent guests, Amy and Kate had a bit of a climate shock when they came over on for dinner and to record the pollution podcast episode.

Both were given coats and hats to keep warm.  They are were not the hardened Brass Monkeys that we obviously were.  It was quite funny actually, as we discussed this during the podcast episode at around the [27:32] minute mark of the chat.  They were all rugged up, and I was not.  Quite a stark contrast.

Quieting The Monkey

Yesterday, Maurice from ecoMaster visited and performed the  ecoHome Plus assessment.  He was here for about 3 hours in total, checking insulation levels, inspecting walls, checking for draughts, and other stuff.

He gave us some verbal feedback before we receive the full report in the next few days.

The first thing he suggested we get done is to get some wall insulation pumped into the wall cavities.  We have a brick/veneer home and there was foil insulation fitted when the house was originally built, however this has a very low R factor.  There is a 50mm gap in between the bricks and the stud-work that can be filled.

We have no idea of the cost until we get the main report, but I am willing to dive into my deep pockets to get it done.

Additionally, the windows need to be replaced with double glazing, as they are not very efficient.  With aluminium frames that are rotting, and glass that is single pane, they are highly efficient conductors of heat.  Not very good when you are trying to keep your home warm.  Again, not sure of the cost, but it will not be cheap.

One Month Remaining

With only one month of winter remaining, I think we will make it to the end of the challenge quite easily.

No natural gas has been expended on heating so far, so therefore no GHG emission have been created.  I am looking forward to our next gas bill at the end of the month!

Kim has had the energy-efficient reverse cycle air-conditioner on for an hour in the morning to heat up her south-facing office, and on for another in the evening.  She only has a laptop, so her room temperature drops during the evening.  As we purchase GreenPower, we only use renewable energy to power our home, so no GHG emissions for this little bit of heating.

I am looking forward to spring and the warmth that it brings.  It will be a flurry of activity in the garden as well, but we will be able to reduce the layers (like an Ogre) and warm up a bit.

I am also looking forward to start work on making our home more comfortable with wall insulation and double glazing, but will have to assess the timeframes when we see how much it will cost.

How are you going on your Brass Monkey Challenge?  Coping alright?  Keeping warm enough?

Green Lawnmower Man

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As I have no lawn on my property, I decided to give my petrol lawn mower that rarely got used, to my daughter Amy as a gift.  She was after one for her new place in Ballarat, so I thought it best not to increase the fossil fuel burning mower population of the world by one more.

Now, I still have a nature strip that must be mowed as per local laws, and I wanted to be a green as I possibly could, so I went old school.  I hunted in the second hand shops for a serviceable hand mower but to no avail.

So, off to the hardware store to see what I could find.  I picked one up for just under $150 which I thought was a bargain.  It weighs only 8kg and is light as a feather to push.  It has a great motion and I was surprised about how well it actually cut the grass.  I bought a catcher to go with it, but should not have bothered.  The grass clippings will help the lawn to thicken and retain moisture.  But the most fantastic thing is that I am so excited about is that I never need fuel again!  Slowly but surely, I am kicking the carbon habit.  Less emissions can only mean happy smiles from Gaia.

Anyway, Ben took heaps of great photos, so I have strung them together in this short video.  Watch the Green Lawnmower Man in action, with his faithful sidekick Ben the Assistant!

Zero Footprint Week – Energy

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According to the Zero Footprint Week site, electricity accounts for 50% of energy consumed by Australian households and for 85% of greenhouse emissions.  The main reason for this fact is that the majority of electricity in Australia is generated by burning Coal which released massive amounts of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

So I will also add in my experiences on reducing electricity consumption during my sustainable journey so far.  So here are the three categories for today, plus a few tips of my own.

Switching off appliances and power points can save 10% on energy bills.  I might be preaching to the converted, but standby power adds up over a year.  So what can you do about it?  If you can group appliances together then put them all on a powerboard and you then only have one switch to worry about.  Don’t let the fact of not being able to reach the power point deter you, there are powerboards with switches on them that make it easier to reach.  I have used this system for each PC (we have 3 PC’s and 1 laptop), and the entertainment system in the lounge.  I found that the week I implemented this, we saved 2 Kilowatt hours a day and have done so now for 18 months!  At 15.99 cents per kWh that is a savings of $116.80 and 876 kg of CO2e per year.  All for turning stuff off at the wall!  It is also a good idea to read your meter daily for a week if you can.  This way you can determine if the small changes you make over a week are making a difference.  Have a look at your previous electricity bill, because most of them have your daily average usage listed.  You can use this figure as your baseline and try and improve each month.  If you would like more information about the other things I did have a look at the post titled "Eco House Challenge Electricity 1" and "Eco House Challenge Electricity 2".  Since I wrote that post, we have had two adult kids move out of home, and our daily average electricity usage over the last 32 weeks was 12.2 kWh.  This total includes grid and solar.  The grid daily average was 3.2 kWh!  I love the Sun.

Choose energy efficient appliances can save another 10% on energy bills.  Our big electricity sucking machines are the Fridge/Freezer, Clothes Dryer, Swimming Pool Pump, Entertainment System, and Gas Stove.  Since I began my journey in sustainable living, we have replaced the a Fridge/Freezer, a Chest Freezer and combined them into one twin door energy efficient model.  The old fridge died, so we did our research for an energy efficient model, and found that the one we purchased used 60% less energy per year than the old Fridge/Freezer and Chest freezer combined.  It was a great feeling to see the results.  I only ever replace an appliance when it breaks for good, because I take the embedded energy into account for the new item.  Embedded energy is the energy that it takes to make the new appliance which should be taken into account if you can get the information that is.  To find the most energy efficient appliance for you have a look at the Commonwealth Government Energy Rating site.  It is full of great information that I used when looking for my fridge.  For the appliances that you can’t or don’t want to replace just yet, try and use them less.  We rarely use the clothes dryer anymore and prefer to hang clothes either on an airer or under cover if it is raining.  I got rid of a bar fridge that I rarely used, and turned the pool pump down from 8 hours a day to 3.5 hours a day in Summer.  The pool still stays clean and chlorinated, so I don’t why people insist on leaving these energy guzzling pumps for many hours during the day.  Once again, try and take meter readings while you make changes to your consumption to check the results.

Switching to GreenPower reduces your carbon footprint by up to 70%.  This was one of the first things that we did.  By visiting www.greenpower.gov.au we found that our current provider Origin Energy provided accredited GreenPower to our area.  We first signed up for 20% Wind, and then when our Solar PV system was installed, we changed to 100% wind for the excess that we drew from the grid.  Origin also threw in GreenGas, for free, which is a scheme where they invest in projects to sequester CO2e like new renewable energy, planting trees, research and development etc. 

I am proud to say that our home is carbon neutral for all of our imported energy needs.

Tomorrows post will be about Transport, and how you can reduce your carbon footprint in this area. 

Keep an eye on the official Zero Footprint Week web site for more tips on how to reduce your carbon footprint during the week.